Existing coal-fired power plants in the United States produce electricity at an average cost of $45.57 per megawatt-hour, far below the cost of existing wind facilities at $59.78 per megawatt-hour and less than half the price of existing solar at $102.40 per megawatt-hour, according to a new analysis by Energy Bad Boys, a research team examining energy costs. The findings, highlighted in a February 2025 report from the Heartland Institute's Climate Change Weekly, challenge claims that renewable energy sources now offer the cheapest electricity. The analysis examined 82 coal plants across the country with available FERC Form 1 data through S&P Global, excluding only facilities with capacity factors below 15 percent that are nearing retirement.
The research found that the lowest-cost coal plants operate at $22 to $27 per megawatt-hour, with utilization rates driving the cost gap between the cheapest and most expensive facilities. New wind installations fare even worse against coal, with the Energy Information Administration estimating costs at $62.09 per megawatt-hour, making them competitive with only the most expensive 25 percent of coal plants currently operating. New solar facilities come in at $74.55 per megawatt-hour, beating just six of the 82 coal plants examined, or 7 percent of the total. The overwhelming majority of the coal plants studied have fully depreciated their original investments, though some were built in the 2010s and many have added environmental controls and capital upgrades. The cost figures for wind and solar don't include firming expenses—the battery storage or natural gas backup required to ensure reliable power when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining—or the transmission infrastructure needed to move electricity from remote generation sites to population centers where demand exists.
"Based on these numbers, the average cost of existing coal is 27 percent more affordable than a new wind facility, and nearly 40 percent more affordable than new solar," the Energy Bad Boys team writes. The report notes that even the highest-cost quarter of coal plants generate cheaper electricity than new wind and solar installations. States that have moved most aggressively to replace baseload fossil fuel and nuclear plants with wind and solar have experienced the fastest-rising electricity prices and the highest number of outages, according to Energy Information Agency data on industrial, commercial, and residential power rates and reliability cited in the analysis.
The cost advantage of coal stems largely from depreciated capital investments and higher utilization rates at operating plants, according to the research. Plants that run more consistently spread their operating and maintenance expenses across more megawatt-hours, lowering the per-unit cost. The analysis tracked fuel expenses, other operations and maintenance costs, and capital expenses to rank facilities, focusing on plants still actively contributing to the grid rather than those winding down operations. The gap between coal and renewables would widen further if the comparison included the backup power systems and long-distance transmission lines that wind and solar require but coal doesn't, the report notes. If coal plants close in the near term, the analysis suggests, it will happen for political reasons rather than because wind and solar have become genuinely cheaper alternatives, regardless of what renewable energy advocates and media coverage claim.